Second Chance
by Ailu Chan
Summary: "Who are you?" Because their lives were a cliché. Because they missed her, so very much, and prayed that she would come back to them. Because they were hollow without her, and she wasn't meant to die the first of the three of them. Because her team needed her. If only they got her back... They would change for her. "I'm Sasuke," he answers. And so they start to change. For her.


**A**uthor's **N**ote: Okay, so I just couldn't resist keeping this to myself. My original idea was to upload this when I was done with Tsubasa, but I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. I would love it if you could feedback on this, send me your thoughts, if it's too lame or too good. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this.

* * *

**Second Chance  
**_If only they got her back… They would change for her._

Chapter One

Sasuke doesn't like to think about it. Pretty much like everything he thought painful, he shoves it aside and buries it in the back of his mind. When Naruto talks about her (and he does so more often than Sasuke would like) he finds that he isn't able to remember her as sharply as his friend does. He feels somewhat guilty (and terribly irritated), because he _should_ remember. She deserved it, in the end. But he couldn't help himself, and now his memories are blurry ― and he feels so damn _guilty_ it is killing him. He should think about her more often.

* * *

When they were sixteen, they had dragged Sasuke back to Konoha. Kakashi was so proud of them, and they had felt complete and at ease for the first time in a few years. Sasuke had tried to kill her, and by the time they got to Konoha she could still feel his hands around her neck, asphyxiating her. But when she looked at him walking through Konoha's streets, she knew that she had already forgiven him. She also knew that she still loved him, stupidly enough.

Sakura knew it was completely irrational. She was a kunoichi, and kunoichi did not trust whoever had betrayed them once before. _But_, she reminds herself, _they say love's irrational, don't they?_

They had so much to tell him, about those three years they were separated. At first Sasuke didn't want them around, but within the first week he had given in and started to listen to them. Naruto was still an idiot, Kakashi was still a pervert, and Sakura was still annoying.

So annoying.

Especially when she put her hands on his skin and sent her healing, soothing chakra into his system, when she took care of him and Naruto after a battle, when she walked by his side at night after her shift at the hospital. Particularly each time she told him she loved him.

"I love you," she said, again, while he was walking her home from her night shift. Team seven had agreed that she shouldn't walk alone so late, and it was Sasuke's turn to walk her home. They knew she was able to take care of herself, but they didn't want her to have to.

And there it was again, just like every time she said it ― his stomach painfully shifting and his heart beating faster. He didn't like that feeling. It made him feel vulnerable. It made him feel _guilty_.

"I know," he replied, calmly, because he had somewhat learnt what to do in these situations. This wasn't the first time she had said those three words, and it didn't catch him off-guard anymore.

(Although in truth, he was just lying to himself. It did catch him off-guard, and he didn't know what to do at _all_. What do you do when someone tells you they love you?)

She dreamed of the day in which he would say something else. In which he would say something more like 'I love you too' instead of that apologetic 'I know' but she knew those were only dreams — and then again, she wished she had the courage to yell at him, that if he _knew_ he should do something about it — because it hurt.

Sakura had a theory — a theory that said it hurt because she thought too much about things. Ino always said she thought too much. But what else could she do, apart from thinking about it? She tells him she loves him, and he replies that he knows she loves him — and that could mean two very different things. Sometimes it sounded like an 'I know and I'm sorry', meaning that he realises it but he can't love her back for some reason, which is perfectly rational since you can't _make _someone love another someone.

However, at times, when he seemed irritated and she tried to cheer him up telling him she loved him (she would cheer up if someone told her she was loved), it sounded like an 'I know, but leave me alone already'. A voice in the back of her mind told her to stop thinking, but she continued, because she couldn't stop herself.

_And if he knows, and doesn't do anything about it, well that must be because he doesn't care._

The little voice in her mind told her she was being irrational again. Of course he cared — he protected her, he spoke with her (and that was a privilege in his case), and he was _walking her home_. Of course he cared.

_Say something, Sasuke-kun._

Because in the end, that typical 'I know' didn't mean anything. It gave her hope and destroyed her at the same time. _If he knows, I mustn't give up_. It kept her hanging on. _If he knows, I have a chance._ So she didn't move on, because he _knew_, and that was almost enough for her. Almost, for he was there but she couldn't reach him.

She felt suddenly tired. Sasuke always made her feel so _tired_, and she wished he would walk away and leave her alone with her unrequited love, because having him so close but knowing he was unreachable was breaking her heart.

"I'm glad," she said, _I'm so glad you know_. "We have a mission tomorrow."

He raised a brow. "Naruto didn't tell me anything,"

"That's because he's not going. It's just Hinata, Ino, you and me."

"What kind of mission?"

"Assassination. The guy is some kind of revolutionary leader and he's recruiting rogue shinobi for his, um, revolution. It's classified as an A mission," she told him. "Tsunade asked me to brief you. We'll meet at the gates at six a.m."

Sasuke nodded.

* * *

Naruto still thinks he should have been there, and resents Tsunade for it. A little bit. He's so angry ― he purposefully tends to deeply injure Sasuke in their spars; he avoids Ino each time he can. Hinata is different ― Hinata feels so guilty she can't even look at him anymore. He's hurt ― because Sakura didn't tell him about the mission, neither did Sasuke, and he _should have been there_. He can't stop thinking about her, and he sees her everywhere. Being in the hospital is almost painful, for each time the door of his room is opened, Sakura doesn't come in with a smile playing in her lips, and he feels like throwing up.

* * *

They had been left alone again, and he was starting to despise Naruto and Kakashi for their spontaneous disappearances. Sakura was sitting by his side, healing some of the wounds she had received during the spar. She was smiling, and truly, he didn't know why. There was nothing to smile about. Then, she opened her mouth, and he knew what she was about to say.

"Don't say it," he cut her off, even before a sound emanated from her lips.

She stared at him, and asked, "Say what?"

"We're teammates, Sakura. We'll never be anything else than that."

Maybe, if he was harsh with her she would back off. Maybe she would learn he wasn't good enough for her. Maybe her hopes would be shattered and she wouldn't be an annoyance anymore.

In moments like those, she always tried to manage that shattering pain in her chest, and she had forgotten how to breathe for a few seconds. Her smile was gone by then. "Perhaps," she said, avoiding his gaze, because when he said those horrible things to her he usually had that glare of his — that glare she could not stand when directed at her, "but I still love you, Sasuke."

_There's nothing you can do. Nothing's gonna change it. Ever._

She usually would go on rambling after she told him she loved him, but this time she kept silent, and her words echoed in his head because she hadn't said anything else (_I still love you, Sasuke. I still love you, Sasuke._) — so he treated her to ramen. Sakura ate quietly, and Sasuke noticed she was purposefully keeping herself from talking. When she finished her bowl, she frowned at her chopsticks and bit her lip.

"Sasuke—"

"Hm?" Finally. She was talking again. He felt somewhat relieved.

"—do you hate me?"

"What? No," he answered. The relief was quickly forgotten. "Why would I?"

"I don't know, I was just asking," she said, not looking at him. She suddenly started feeling self-conscious. She should have kept silent. But then her stupid mouth opened again. "You never talk to me."

"Yes I do," he stated, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but we always talk about irrelevant stuff. You never _talk_ to me. Not like you talk to Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei." They all had this habit of leaving her behind, keeping things from her — and she knew they were trying to protect her, but seeing how they shut up every time she came was too painful. She wanted to be one of them; she wanted to be treated as an equal. She wanted Sasuke to treat her as an equal.

"Tsk, nonsense." He shrugged it off.

"You know everything about me," she continued. _Yet I feel I don't know you at all, Sasuke-kun._ Sasuke stared at her, undecipherable. "Nevermind," she sighed.

She wanted to know — he didn't hate her, he definitely didn't _love_ her. Who was she to him?

* * *

Ino is sorry. She's sorry for Sakura — but she's also sorry for the remains of Team Seven. When she sees Sasuke and Naruto walking together, she sees her. Then she blinks, and she realizes there's something missing between them. What probably kept them together was gone, and they seem hollow. Those days, in which she could swear she saw Sakura happily walking to the hospital, knocking at the flower shop, walking by Naruto and Sasuke, those days it hurt the most. She was glad to see her — she was glad to see she hadn't forgotten her face — but she would blink. And then she would be gone.

* * *

However, there's something Sasuke remembers clearly despite his apparent memory loss ― the words of their target.

"Get the medic first!"

He recalled perfectly how his guts twisted, and how all his men went towards her, how their target meant Sakura, who clearly had the medic profile, and not Ino.

He understood why, and they shouldn't have underestimated their enemy, as they went directly for the medic in order to lower the survival chances of the other members of the team. He knew she was trained to handle a lot of damage and her evasion skills were astounding, but —

They were so many ― Tsunade shouldn't have sent just three chuunin (and one gennin) against about seventy talented shinobi, and he also remembers hating her in that desperate moment. At first they were doing fine, but soon they ran out of shuriken and kunai and they had to fight with their fists and their jutsus. And while she had managed to eliminate about thirteen enemies —their bodies splattered all around her— there was no way she could have seen the man coming out from the shadows, and with a touch on the back of her head, she was left unconscious in the middle of the battle field.

He remembers shouting but she didn't wake up, and he should have been by her side immediately (because honestly, why had he trained all those years if he couldn't protect her?) but he was dealing with seven enemies at the same time ― and when his Sharingan caught that same man carrying her, sheer horror flooded his veins. If he _dared_ to touch her―

But he didn't. He just ran. Ran far away from him. With Sakura on his arms.

He tried to follow him, but his enemies were purposefully keeping him away from her. He pushed one aside and made him tackle the other, but a third came and stabbed him with a katana on his stomach. He looked down at his own blood, and then he killed that third with a swift Chidori. Now he was calling for Ino, so she could heal him, and then they could go after Sakura…

No, he didn't have time for that. Naruto would kill him with that ugly Rasengan of his if he put Sakura in danger. He skillfully evaded a second katana and managed to follow Sakura's dim chakra.

* * *

Hinata, as one of the Rookie Nine, knew Sakura pretty well. After Sasuke left, she had even come to like her. She was kind and when they were on missions together, Hinata noticed how she healed every wound, every cut, every broken bone — even if it wasn't necessary. Hinata was very shy — but Sakura managed to make her laugh a little sometimes, pretty much like Naruto for that matter. Still, when Naruto left, after Sasuke left, Sakura was still with them, sure that they would both return, even if no one was. Hinata thinks that Sakura was the only reason why the Rookie Nine stayed together, then she thinks she's exaggerating; and then she believes that no, that she's not exaggerating, because Sakura had faith when no one did. She had faith for all of them.

* * *

Sakura didn't like to be alone, that's why she always looked for company. Ino, Naruto, Sai, Kakashi, even Shikamaru or Neji would do.

When she was alone, she started to think, and when she started to think, she started to hurt.

And it hurt even more when she saw Sasuke, —because she loved him loved him _loved him_ — but didn't want to show her pain, because honestly? Sasuke had endured too much hurting for her to throw hers in his face, and she couldn't force him to love her. It wasn't fair, and she just wanted to see him happy. As happy as Sasuke could ever be, for that matter.

She was a healer, and she wanted to heal Sasuke's heart.

Even when hers was dying.

* * *

He didn't think he'd run for that long, but it felt like the hardest race of his life. At times, the man that held her disappeared from his natural sight and he could almost feel the adrenaline and the fear cursing through his veins as he activated his Sharingan in order to keep up with him. How did this man run so fast, anyway? _He_ was known for being fast. Then again, he was drained. He muttered a curse under his breath and tried to run faster and faster.

This couldn't seriously be happening. When they were younger, they had always managed to stay alive. He tried to think this was just another occasional trouble they got in, but there was a terrible feeling in his gut.

The man before him suddenly stopped dead, and soon he realized it was because of the precipice following. He instantly checked up on Sakura with his Sharingan — she was unconscious, but breathing still. Her chakra was weird, so she was probably under the effect of a genjutsu. Then, he looked up to her captor. He took a step forward, trying to subdue him with his Sharingan, but it was no use. Apparently, the weak chuunin he thought had captured Sakura was a genjutsu master. Still… to resist his Sharingan?

"Don't even think about it, Uchiha," the man said. "I know what you can do for this woman, and I've set a special shield to block your eyes from me!"

"Hand over Sakura," he hissed, "I do not need my eyes to defeat you."

"We need this kunoichi for interrogation…" The man's face turned a little desperate. "And my orders were explicit — if I can't kidnap this woman, I need to get rid of her."

Sasuke's eyes widened and flickered just for a second to the precipice behind the man, and when he looked back at him, Sakura's body was already in the air. Falling away from him.

* * *

Sometimes, Sakura wished she could simply forget him. Travel back through time and prevent herself from meeting him. It all would be so much easier, she would have kept herself away from the pain since the very beginning. But then, they go to a mission, to spar, or to eat ramen. And as Naruto laughs, Sasuke looks at her with those beautiful dark eyes and calls her name.

And she is in heaven, and she couldn't be happier. And all the pain was worth it.

* * *

One day, he _sees_ her.

By that time, Sasuke was twenty-one already. He lived in a small apartment a few blocks away from the village's downtown, as he'd paid his bail with most of the Uchiha lands. He wouldn't like to live all alone over there, either. Too many useless memories reminisced there.

He'd woken up a Sunday and he was supposed to make himself some breakfast, and when he went to the fridge, he only had one egg. Not even one tomato. That was it. Grunting in annoyance, he got dressed and dragged himself to the market.

He was at the fruit stand, picking some fruit. The village market was a busy place, especially on Sundays – which could probably explain the furrow on his brows and his annoyed glare to everything around him. There were several stands, in which amiable people sold their goods, from fruits and vegetables to meat and fish. It was actually a street, and it was so busy and crowded you actually had to come really close to the stands to see what they were selling.

He put the last tomato into the plastic bag and placed it on the scale, waiting for the costermonger to tell him how much was it. The man was looking for his calculator, and Sasuke glanced impatiently at his surroundings.

And then he saw it. Pink hair.

His lips parted and his pulse quickened. He _had _to be hallucinating, he _had to_. The head with the pink hair was moving rapidly and he couldn't get a glance of the face or the profile – it was quite long, so he assumed it was a girl. She was about a hundred feet away from him. He eyed the greengrocer and muttered and apology, and set off to look for her.

The girl was no longer shopping, because now she was walking away from him, apparently having already got what she was looking for. He was trying desperately to make his way across the crowd, not wanting to jump on a roof or anything because the crowd would freak out and he would probably lose her like that.

But he was losing her anyways, the pink hair swinging freely in the wind, further away from him.

As he walked pushing people away, he asked himself what the hell he was doing. Sakura was dead. He saw her die. He, Uchiha Sasuke, the traitor, didn't even have consideration enough to remember her face, her features. She was just a blur of pink hair, green eyes and insane physical strength.

But nobody he knew in town had pink hair like hers. And here he was, chasing a woman with her exact same pink hue, his Sharingan activated even though civilians were around and he wasn't supposed to use it.

Somebody stumbled upon her, and she almost tripped. The person who almost got her to trip must have apologized, for then she turned around to utter a thanks and another apology – and Sasuke got a glance of her face.

_Sakura_.

Seeing her face struck him like a thunderbolt. He froze. She looked older, just as he must have looked older after two years and a half. _No_, he corrected himself,_ two years and ten months already_. Her jaw was a little bit sharper, her lips fuller, but her eyes were as bright as they had always been. Her eyelids fluttered gracefully, and her hair accompanied her gestures. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. _The same gestures, even._ His Sharingan registered every moment, so he would _not_ forget anything anymore. She continued walking after ensuring the person who stumbled upon her was alright, but Uchiha Sasuke could _not_ move. He stopped breathing, his red eyes faded slowly to black. He opened his mouth and he said her name, which came out as a silent whisper. "Sakura."

After two minutes of breathtaking shock in which he didn't know what he was supposed to _do_ – because what do you do when your teammate suddenly comes back to life and visits your village and doesn't even stop by to say hi? – he forced himself forwards and started running in her direction. He didn't see her anywhere around, so he started asking people. "Have you seen Sakura?" He asked, but people just looked at him like he was insane. _They don't remember her_, a voice whispered in his head. _She's probably saved their lives at least once, and nobody remembers her_.

He cursed inwardly and closed his eyes in a pained expression each time he asked instead, "Have you seen a girl with pink hair?", because she deserved to be remembered, and she wasn't.

He gritted his teeth when nobody was able to give him an answer, and continued moving forward, this time with his Sharingan activated again, not caring what kind of lecture the old hag would give him – she was _alive_ and in town and her hair was long and she was _okay_.

The market street came to an end, and he couldn't see her left nor right. He desperately turned around over and over again, forcing his eyes to focus on the chakras he perceived, but he couldn't find her. He scanned carefully his surroundings, but she was nowhere to be seen. She'd disappeared. He'd lost her. _Again_. His eyes stung.

He could have just exploded right there and destroyed one of the buildings nearby, but it took all of him to remain composed. Panting heavily, he put his hands on his knees, defeated. He shook his head, telling himself he'd just had a weird vision.

* * *

Tsunade is tired. Sure, Shizune is always there to help her, but having a hidden ninja village to run, they could use more help. Sakura was just _perfect_ in that sense. Well, not that perfect, but she was good enough. She would keep her awake when they stayed overnight doing paperwork, she'd take missions that nobody liked taking, she'd reprimand her when she drank too much. She missed that. Even more, she misses her smile every time a situation was difficult. She misses how she would learn a new technique faster than every other student she'd had, even though she would tell her it was not enough.

Tsunade regrets every second her team choice. She should have sent another jounin with them. She shouldn't have sent her most valuable medic with them. She should have imagined something would go wrong. She should have _known_.

She knows this happens all the time. She just would have never imagined it would happen to her again.

* * *

Of course, he didn't get any sleep that night. He stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, lying motionless on his bed. When he closed his eyes, he could see hers fluttering all over again.

When the first hints of sunlight made their way through his window, he sat up and talked himself into going training that morning. He was the first one to be there, of course, then Naruto, and a few hours later, Kakashi. Naruto would have some errands to run by the time Kakashi got by, after all, he was the one with most friends and he liked sparring and training with different people.

So when Naruto had left and it was only Kakashi and him, he decided to tell him about his vision. He was sitting on one of the benches under one of the trees that were placed inside the training grounds, his elbows on his knees and his eyes looking down the grass.

"I saw Sakura yesterday."

Kakashi raised a silent brow. Sasuke eyed him and waited for a response. "You do realize she's dead, right?"

He fought the urge to flinch. "I do. Still, I saw her. At the market."

The copy ninja had been leaning on that same tree, but he pushed himself to his feet, truly interested. "What are you talking about, Sasuke? Are you sure?"

"I saw her die. But I saw her. I don't know what's going on."

"Maybe it's some kind of post-traumatic issue," Kakashi suggested.

At that Sasuke glared up. With everything that happened to him, why would a post-traumatic issue come up _now_? Two years after the last loss he'd suffered, anybody would think that he was over it.

"Or maybe not," he chuckled. Sasuke glared harder. What was so funny? "I don't know, Sasuke. You must have mistaken her. Else she would have looked for us already, don't you think?"

Well, he was right on that.

* * *

On Thursday, the dobe had insisted on them having lunch together. So there he was, eating slowly his ramen at Ichiraku's, while his teammate just inhaled his third bowl, slammed it on the table and shouted to the old man for another one. He hoped all of this was on Naruto, really. It would not be the first time he'd 'invite' him only to have him pay.

"Sasuke," he said, suddenly serious. Sasuke looked at him, because Naruto didn't talk like that to him very often. "You're going to think I'm insane, but I think I saw Sakura-chan last Sunday."

Sasuke almost choked.

"_What_?"

"I was right here, at Ichiraku's, and when I got out the crowd from the markets was passing by. I decided to go on the roofs, you know, so as not to wade into it – I know Granny Tsunade doesn't want us to do so but I was really full from eating and I _really_ wanted to take a nap-"

"Naruto." He cut him warningly.

"Oh, right. I saw her in the crowd. Her pink hair. I'm sure."

"Sakura's dead," he said curtly, looking down into his ramen bowl.

"You don't think I know that?" Naruto hissed. "I'm telling you, bastard, I _saw_ her."

"You saw her? Okay then, where is she?"

"I don't know- Well, I lost her…"

Sasuke stood up suddenly, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his t-shirt and slammed him on the wall of the ramen stand. "Let me get this straight," he muttered angrily. Naruto's eyes widened. "You _see_ your dead teammate, and you just let her _go?_ What's _wrong_ with _you_?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and with one of his free hands, he pushed aside Sasuke's. "The fuck is your problem, bastard?!" He screeched. Then, he pushed Sasuke aside with his both hands and went back to sit down on his stool. "I was probably imagining things. You said it, Sakura-chan is dead," he said sadly. "I just wanted to tell somebody what I saw."

Sasuke grunted in annoyance, disturbed by the fact he'd just let his frustration go on Naruto, and also sat back on his stool. He couldn't get himself to finish his bowl.

* * *

The next Sunday, he saw her again.

He was in his apartment, just cleaning around, and when he walked past the window, he saw her pink tresses again, walking casually by. _This is it_, he thought. There was no way she'd get away this time, there were no people on his street. He considered going down the stairs, but she seemed on a rush and there was nothing to distract her, so he just jumped out of the window.

She had just walked by his window, which was on a third floor, and he landed right behind her. The sound of his feet made her turn around, and his heart skipped a beat when she looked at him in the eye. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it wouldn't go away. He looked at her carefully, making sure he_ would_ remember everything, and then he was able to regard her clothes.

She was wearing a light green dress, probably made of cotton. It was close-fitting near her waist, but it was wider as it reached her knees. Her shoes were red and flat. Most importantly, he realized, they were _not_ part of a shinobi outfit.

"Geez, is this normal to you, ninja people?" She laughed merrily.

Sasuke widened his eyes, speechless. "What do you mean?" He forced himself to say. Sakura was _talking_ to him. His dead teammate was there, in a dress, alive and talking and apparently, _happy_. He realized he'd never seen Sakura with such a bright smile.

"Jumping out of windows, of course," this time, she took a step closer. Sasuke couldn't move, again. She held her hand out. "You look like a nice guy. What's your name?"

He said his name before he realized what her question really meant. "Sasuke…" he whispered.

Her reaction was not as expected.

Her hand shaked, her lips trembled and before she said anything, her eyes widened in horror and then rolled back as she fainted.

* * *

A/N: So? Any thoughts? I desperately need your support on this! I feel like I could take this story on so many different ways I could just freak out so easily hahaha! I would really love it and appreciate it if you could tell me what you think. Thank you _very_ much in advance. From now, I really vow to answer every signed review, so you can ask me questions if you want :)


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